Following the news of the Brutal Fish Racing team’s withdrawal from this year’s TCR Europe series, it has been confirmed that Pepe Oriola will continue his campaign for the Drivers’ title in a Hyundai Elantra N run by Aggressive Team Italia. Oriola is currently seventh in the Drivers’ championship after two podium finishes so far this season.

Oriola has been a regular driver in TCR competition, appearing in the TCR International series from its inception in 2015 and winning the inaugural TCR South America title last year. His new team, Aggressive Team Italia, runs two Hyundai cars in the TCR Italy series, including one for Kevin Ceccon who is currently in third place in the standings.

Pepe Oriola said: “It’s great to join Aggressive Team Italia and I want to thank Mauro Guastamacchia and the team for having confidence in me. This is a young outfit, but it has already proved its potential by achieving brilliant results in TCR Italy. We have quickly found an agreement and I’m happy to continue my participation in TCR Europe. Our goal is to fight consistently for the top-five positions, but also to set off together for a long and successful course.”

Team Principal Mauro Guastamacchia added: “We had planned to enter TCR Europe from next year, but as this opportunity arose, we decided to seize it. We are aware that it won’t be an easy task because Pepe has never driven the Elantra, and we haven’t worked with Kumho tyres before. On top of this we are also committed to run our TCR Italy programme and support Kevin Ceccon in his title bid. Our goal is to give Pepe a competitive car, so that he can aim for some brilliant results in the remaining races and at the same time we want to gain experience in view of a more important commitment for next year.”

In what appears to have been a personal decision, Martin Ryba, the Team Principal of Brutal Fish Racing, announced the team’s withdrawal on its social media pages earlier this week, saying “…it was a blast being a part of the series since 2018, but now it is time to move on. Thank you so much to all the TCR Europe organisation people for all that you have done for us; you are awesome.”